Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia says a significant decline in the country’s economic growth is forecast due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are fighting on two battlefields – for health and economic development and the victory will not be valuable if we gain it just on one of them,” the Prime Minister said while commenting of the Spring 2020 Economic Update by the World Bank.

"Of course, economic challenges are extremely important today. I can tell you more, of course, we expect a serious decline in the economic growth. We expect this and therefore we are making changes to the budget,” the Prime Minister said.

According to him the government of Georgia is already working on the plan to ease coronavirus restrictions imposed under the state of emergency, but “it should be well-thought-out plan that will balance protection of the health of citizens and the potential for economic development. It will not happen in one day and one week," Gakharia said.

According to the World Bank, in Georgia, real GDP growth is projected to slow sharply, to close to zero percent in 2020, as the impacts of COVID-19 add to an already challenging external environment.